


flying from a fire

by constellatns



Series: the place between two places [1]
Category: Trench - Twenty One Pilots (Album), Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Trench (Album), Angst, Chronologically Confusing, DEMA (Twenty One Pilots), F/M, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Some Descriptions of Violence, can be read as platonic/romantic dealers choice, its a jenshler fic in whatever way you want it to be, its more about that sweet sweet ot3 dynamic, mr pilot im trying my best but there is no timeline, nothing overly graphic, trench
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-05-01 17:11:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19182193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constellatns/pseuds/constellatns
Summary: "There’s an old game somewhere in Josh’s mind, which had the object of taking the king from the other player. He doesn’t remember much besides that and there were these pieces called rooks and they protect the king...He’s positive that if Tyler is the king, he and Jenna are the rooks."you already know how this ends:they'll win, but not everyone will get out.(or: a narrative retelling of trench, and whatever may come next)





	flying from a fire

**Author's Note:**

> we start just as the era did: with jumpsuit.
> 
> this story is me attempting to assemble trench (the album) into a narrative, it's by no means the End All Be All of interpretations, its just mine. and guess what?? it includes a healthy amount of jenshler!!  
> buckle up, friends.
> 
> also sorry about the spacing, I hate it but I'm too lazy to fix it.

Flames crackle underneath Tyler’s feet as he crouches on a burning car.

 

_We were here the whole time. You were asleep. It’s time to wake up._

 

It is a dream, Tyler has discovered, but he doesn’t understand why he is watching himself.

  
  


Sun is the first thing that Tyler sees as he wakes. The bright, blinding white fills his vision and he covers his eyes quickly as he sits up.

 

He can’t quite remember how he got here, in the middle of Trench, wearing a jacket he cannot remember. As he starts walking again, he turns around and realizes he is walking away from Dema.

 

_I’m trying to escape._

 

He can’t think of a reason to go back or a reason he’d want to escape, so Tyler continues forward.

 

The cliffs are bigger than he imagined. He had only heard rumors of Trench, stories of it were whispered among citizens, to some it was a terrifying, to others it seemed like a safe haven.

Tyler remembers a man who once worked next to him named Franklin.

 

He always talked about Trench and how his sister escaped there. He said the cliffs were verdant and lush, that a river cut it in half.

 

The cliffs look pretty green to Tyler, but the river is more of a steady steady stream.

 

Franklin didn’t come to work one day. Tyler wonders if he escaped, or if the Bishops heard him.

 

As Dema became further with each step, Tyler wondered why he was leaving it.

 

_I could turn around now, be back before sunset, I will tell Nico it was a mistake, he will understand._

 

But Tyler’s feet still moved forward.

 

_The City isn’t bad, I could go back. Besides, what choice do I have? I don’t know where I am going._

 

Tyler sees the tape on his jacket, he doesn’t know whether to think of it as an example or an explanation.

  


He looks up and sees figures on the cliffs surrounding him. First he is unsettled by their presence, then the fear fades. He doesn’t know how he is supposed to take them though. He can make out tape on their clothes which must be the same as his, the yellow is stark against the grey sky.

 

A memory hits Tyler—he is standing on a burning car, staring at the grey sky. He opens his arms, he has never felt more free.

 

(he realizes the dream from before was not a dream at all)

 

Every figure looks at something behind him. Tyler turns and sees Nico on his horse.

 

When he was a child, older children would try to scare him and say the horse had a thousand sharp teeth, they would say the horse could smell when someone did something wrong and warned Nico about it. Tyler remembers lying awake more than one night trying desperately not to think of the horse or its teeth, begging it wouldn’t smell his fear.

 

_Some fear is healthy, boy. Although, it must be the right kind. Do not fear Dema or me. Do not fear the walls and the neon, these are all here to keep you safe. Fear the outside, fear the unknown,_ Nico once sneered to him when Tyler was younger.

 

A vision of the burning car comes back to him. He can smell the metal charring.

 

Tyler does not think Nico’s horse would smell fear on him now, if what those children told him was true.

 

He looks up at the figures on the cliffs, he suddenly feels a pull to run from Nico. He looks forward at the horse charging to him. Tyler is filled with hatred.

 

Then he isn’t.

 

Tyler closes his eyes.

 

_Cover me. Cover me._

 

He thinks of the jumpsuit he wears in Dema. On the nights he lay awake thinking of Nico’s horse he pulled the fabric tight to himself. It was his armor, he told himself it would protect him, save him.

 

He does not want to run.

 

Another memory of the car comes back, the bottoms of his shoes are hot, but not hot enough to make him get off the car. It’s hot enough to exhilarate him, keep his heart racing with something that feels a lot like victory.

 

Tyler twitches at the memory, _it’s not real, it’s not real._

 

_Cover me._

 

He does not hear the thundering of hooves anymore. Tyler doesn’t dare open his eyes, not when the silence which replaced the hooves is replaced by footsteps, not when the footsteps stop, not when he feels cold fingers on his throat.

 

Tyler does not think to move now, his feet move one in front of the other on their own.

 

It is easy for a few steps, the red engulfs his vision and he is pulled forward _forwardforward_ and he doesn't care where it leads.

Then his body begins to do something strange. His left foot drags on the next step, Tyler has to think _walk_ to get it to move so he doesn’t trip. Then his right foot does the same.

 

He feels cut down the middle, wanting to follow and wanting to run.

 

_If you need anyone, I’ll be right there, but you’ll have to grab my throat and lift me in the air._

 

_I’ll stop my plans, but you’ll have to tie me down and then break both my hands._

  


_If you need anyone, I’ll be right there_ —the voice which says this in his head is not his own, its timbre is not the same and it fills his whole chest.

It almost startles him, then Tyler catches sight of a small patch of yellow flowers on the ground.

 

He stumbles and stops walking, he looks up again, the figures are still there.

 

The yellow on their clothes becomes more apparent to him.

 

_Banditos._ The name fills his head.

 

And the voice from before, he can place it, it’s—

 

Yellow petals rain down from the Bandito’s hands off the cliffs. Nico’s horse starts and kicks back. Nico looks confused and frustrated as he tries to pull the horse’s reins.

 

_He can’t see the yellow, he doesn’t know why we’ve stopped_.

 

Tyler watches the petals float around him, the burning car comes back to him again. He sees sparks in the night air. Then he remembers something else, a different night, surely. Sparks like the ones on the car are there, but it’s from a different fire. He sees ice blue eyes in the night, he hears ringing laughter. His chest swells.

 

The red of Nico’s cloak sways violently as the horse jolts and rears.

 

This is his chance, he can turn and leave now. Tyler’s chest fills with hate again.

 

_Dema is not my home._

 

So Tyler turns and runs.

 

He looks back and sees the horse has settled and Nico has turned back to him.

 

Tyler runs and runs and runs and _runs._

 

_Jumpsuit, cover me. Cover me._

 

He isn’t begging for the same protection he was as a child. He is begging the Banditos to cover him, to help him escape. He can do it, he is almost free. Just a little longer——

 

Tyler’s foot catches on a rock and he comes crashing to the ground.

Where he lands he sees another patch of yellow flowers, he grabs one just as he feels a hand fisting the back of his jacket.

  


 

* * *

 

3 HOURS EARLIER   


It has been forty-three days since Josh and Jenna have seen Tyler.

They have been in Trench for seventy days.

 

On the seventieth morning, when Josh and Jenna are eating by the fire, a bandito rushes up to them, out of breath.

 

“He’s escaping. He left, he made it out,” she heaves.

 

Josh chances a glance at Jenna who asks the bandito, “Who?”

 

Josh knows exactly who she was referring to, so did Jenna. But it has been seventy days, they were not going to get their hopes up.

 

“Tyler,” the bandito, Hanna, Josh rememberers, says with a small smile. “We just got word from the borderers.”

 

The borderers were Tyler’s idea, they are three banditos in a secret base as close to the border of Dema and Trench they can get without getting noticed. Turns out, they can get pretty close, as long as they are underground.

 

“Is it confirmed?” Josh asks, hope still feeling hot in his throat.

 

Hanna nods, “We got a code with two sets of verification.” She hands a sheet of paper to Jenna.

 

_10MOON 16_

_A FIRE HAS STARTED._

_A FIRE HAS STARTED._

 

_CONFIRMED 0600_

_CONFIRMED 0700_

 

_A FIRE HAS STARTED._

 

“He’s escaping,” Jenna says quietly.

 

“Where was he last seen?” Josh asks.

 

Hanna pulls out another paper, “At 0900 they saw him leaving the tunnel, and he was spotted by lookouts at the farthest post at 0915.”

 

“So he’ll be at the closest post soon,” Josh says. It’s already been an hour since he was spotted.

 

“We estimate now, forty minutes, if—” Hanna stops herself.

 

Josh looks over at Jenna, “If he makes it,” Jenna says.

 

Hanna nods. “The second post’s communications are down, so we won’t know until he hits the third,” she says.

 

There are four lookout posts between Dema and the camp.

 

“We’ll meet him there, then,” Josh says.

 

“Josh,” Jenna says in the voice like he should know better.

 

There’s a good chance Tyler’s being followed, he has been before. Even with the camouflage, getting close to a Bishop is still dangerous.

 

“We won’t go down to him. But we should be there, especially if he’s being followed, to show him the way. Try and help, if we can,” Josh says in his most composed, rational voice though it feels like he’s reaching.

He needs to help Tyler. He needs to drag him back to camp himself.

_He needs Tyler._

 

“How many?” Jenna asks. Jenna needs him, too.

 

“All of us, he’ll need all the help he can get.”

 

“What about the camp?”

 

“I think it will be okay for a while. Besides, I think the City will have bigger problems then a camp they can’t find,” Josh says.

 

So, Josh and Jenna gather everyone up and tell them they’ll be going to the third lookout.

 

Just before they are about to leave, Hanna comes bursting out of the communication tent, “Wait! Wait! The third post just contacted, someone from the second post came to them. They saw Tyler go down right on the edge of their view. Three says they spotted him laying in the stream, Two said he tripped and didn’t get up.”

 

Jenna grabs Josh’s arm. “If he’s being followed,” she starts.

 

“I know,” Josh hates this.

 

_Why can’t you make anything easy, Tyler?_

 

“We’ll still go to Three, and help him but we won’t take everyone,” Josh says like it’s the plan but really he only says it to Jenna, hoping she thinks it’s a good idea.

 

She nods, “We’ll hope he wakes up.”

 

The walk from camp to Three is longer than Josh remembers and each step makes his stomach turn. It must show because at one point Jenna takes his hand from next to him and squeezes.

He remembers for the eighth time that day how grateful he is for her.

 

Once they get there, the banditos line the cliffs and hide, waiting for the signal from the lookout that Tyler has woken up.

 

Josh looks over at Jenna before he dares to look out into the basin for Tyler.

 

_If he doesn’t wake, we’ll be okay. It will be okay._

_It won't be easy, but it will be okay._

_I’ll take care of her, she’ll take care of me. We will take care of the banditos. It will be okay._

 

_God, Tyler better wake up_.

 

Jenna is making a similar face at him that he is, from what he can see above her bandana.

 

He thinks of what their camp medic, Ginny, would say about Tyler’s odds. She never lied but wasn’t harsh about the truth. Ginny would say if he didn’t hit his head when he fell he’d be up in a few minutes, probably passed out from the wind getting the wind knocked from him.

She would also say that if he did hit his head if he isn’t up in five minutes, prepare yourself.

 

Josh takes a deep breath a looks into the basin.

 

He spots him almost immediately. Tyler is there, wearing his jacket with the tape on the arm and shoulders.

_He’s there._

 

Josh doesn’t let himself feel relieved yet.

He isn’t awake.

 

Just as Josh thinks this, Tyler sits up.

_He’s awake. He’s alive._

 

In the corner of his eye, Josh registers Jenna’s hand go to her face but he can’t bear to take his eyes off Tyler to confirm that.

 

Tyler stands up and looks around confused for a moment. It must be the fall he took, Josh hopes.

 

The lookout gives the signal and the banditos stand and reveal themselves to Tyler.

 

There is a moment, it’s so quick Josh almost misses it, right after Tyler stands he is sure Tyler looks right at him.

They are so far away, it’s hard to tell.

 

He watches Tyler begin to stumble East in the river basin, Josh is thankful Tyler’s body has enough muscle memory to know where to go.

But, Josh can tell he doesn’t know much else, he didn’t see any look of recognition pass over Tyler’s face when he saw him, if he saw him at all.

Josh wants to shout to him, tell him to head east, something, anything that will make him remember.

Run down the damn cliff and lead him back to camp himself.

 

But he can’t. Tyler has to do this on his own. Josh and Jenna brought some banditos, he hopes seeing them and the yellow will be enough to make Tyler remember.

 

Suddenly, Josh spots a white and red speck. It’s Nico. His blood freezes, his stomach drops.

 

The lookout notices as well and gives a signal that somehow makes all the look to Nico, behind Tyler, so he’ll see the danger speeding toward him.

 

When Tyler turns to see Nico, he doesn’t run. Tyler stands perfectly still.

 

“What is he doing?” Jenna asks quietly next to him. Josh ignores the fear in her voice.

 

“I don’t know,” the fear in Jenna’s voice only makes his own grow.

 

Nico and the horse stop, and the Bishop gets off the horse.

There’s a lump in Josh’s throat. _Tyler, do something._

Nico stalks toward him and once he is close enough he reaches both hands out to Tyler’s neck.

 

Jenna sharply inhales. Then she runs behind Josh toward the lookout post.

 

He wants to follow her, call out her name, but he’s stuck on watching Tyler walk back toward Dema, under Nico’s control.

 

Josh notices that Tyler’s feet seem to be dragging as if his body doesn’t want him to go as much as his mind does.

 

Just then, Jenna appears behind him with a large burlap sack filled with yellow petals.

He remembers this signal. The lookout throws them out to escapees who look lost. The wind carries the petals east toward camp because of the way the basin and the cliffs were cut.

It leads them to camp.

 

Josh sees others from the lookout taking similar sacks to other Banditos on the cliff.

He takes out an armful and throws them out into the basin. The rest of the banditos follow suit.

 

After a few minutes of this, Nico’s horse starts, Tyler notices the yellow.

It seems to break him out of his trance. He watches them fall the ground carefully as he stands still.

 

And all at once Tyler breaks out into a sprint eastward.

 

He makes it pretty far before Nico and his horse get back on track, then they start after him again.

Josh holds his breath as the two chase after Tyler in the basin and he watches from hundreds of feet above, unable to help at all.

 

Then, Tyler’s foot catches and he falls again. Josh’s stomach drops.

He watches Tyler grab a yellow flower he lands next to.

_He’ll remember. He’ll remember and escape again._

 

“You should take them back, this doesn’t need an audience,” Josh says to Jenna.

 

When she doesn’t answer, Josh looks over and sees her blue eyes welled with tears.

 

“Jenna,” he says, it’s a comfort, a plea.

Either way, she nods and gathers the banditos to lead them back.

It makes Josh’s heart ache.

 

When Josh looks back to the basin, Nico is looking right at him. Every day in Dema comes back to him, every cold night, every feeling of fear, every harsh light.

 

_We will get him back. You’ll see. Tyler will make it out._

_He has before._

_You think you’re so infallible because you keep getting him back, but you forget that he escapes from you every time._

 

_I escaped you. So did Jenna. You aren’t infallible, old man._

 

_Tyler will get out._

  


Nico snaps the reins of the horse and drags Tyler back west.

 

Josh stays until they have left the view of Three.

He doesn’t notice he’s crying until he feels a wet spot on the top of his bandana.

 

Small footsteps register behind him. “I’m sorry, Josh. We did everything we could.” It’s Wes, the chief lookout at Three.

 

Josh wipes his face quickly and pulls down his bandana before turning around, “It isn’t your fault, you and all the lookout posts did absolutely everything you could. And it was enough.”

 

“But we didn’t save him, he’s—”

 

“He’s going to remember this. Did you see him run when he saw the petals? Did you see him grab the flowers? Tyler will remember us, he did down there, thanks to you,” Josh says.

 

Wes nods their head, “Just doesn’t feel like enough.”

 

Josh steps toward then and puts a hand on their shoulder. Wes looks up at him, “It is, it will be.”

 

It has to be.

  


**Author's Note:**

> *levitate voice* welcome to trenshler (trench jenshler) 
> 
> also, this will be in a series bc I have a few ideas that surround the story but don't necessarily fit into this work. 
> 
> next up, nico and the niners


End file.
